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Recreation site planning for Rossland Range moves ahead

A management plan for the proposed Ministry of Forests’ Recreation site in the Rossland Range is becoming a reality, with a working group struck to handle construction of the plan.

Following well-attended public workshops, at the Dec. 3 workshop, which was attended by some 75 people, the participants agreed that creating the Recreation Site is definitely a worthwhile goal, said Friends of the Rossland Range (FORR) committee member Les Carter.

“They also agreed that a first draft of the management plan required for its final approval should be written,” he said in a press release.

The participants in the workshop discussed a number of items for inclusion in the plan, which added to the ideas expressed at the Oct. 29 workshop and the objectives and actions listed in the original Recreation Site application (see the raw comments from the Oct. 29 and Dec. 3 workshops posted on the Friends of the Rossland Range website at www.rosslandrange.org.).

People considered how to create the draft plan and agreed that a working group should be formed, open to all who wish to help write the draft.

Rather than having the working group make any “closed door” decisions, the participants agreed that the first draft should be presented to the public and the Ministry, and that second and subsequent drafts would be produced to reflect any expressed concerns, until there is general agreement that the plan is satisfactory—a “reasonable consensus” approach.

The management plan must be completed by November of 2014.

Twenty-one people have come forward as members of the working group.

“They represent a wide range of interests, with diverse areas of expertise and experience, and have expressed a commitment to moving the recreation site planning ahead as a service to the community,” said Carter.

The recreation site working group will hold its first meeting during the coming week.

When it has produced its first draft, the working group will hold a public meeting. The community will also be invited to submit their ideas in ways other than at face-to-face meetings, Carter noted.

“Eventually, our collective wisdom will prevail,” he said.

For more information about this important initiative, please contact Les Carter, facilitator, at 250-362-5677, retrac01@telus.net.

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